Cingular Service in NC

[twoodard]

I am currently a Sprint customer, no real problems until I tried to get a 4th phone. They denied me even though I have never missed a payment and have excellent credit. I am considering cingular because they will allow me 4 lines. Does anyone have feedback regarding Cingular coverage, especially for calls between Smithfield, Greenville and Greensboro, NC. Thanks

[Rebguy2]

Greensboro has great coverage, and most of the interstates and nearby areas had great Cingular coverage when I was with them. If you are considering Cingular and you are activating the service in NC, keep one thing in mind: you will not be able to roam anywhere in NC, SC, East TN, Eastern GA, or SW VA; even if you have a GAIT phone (T62U, 6340, 6340i). If Cingular's 1900 GSM network is not available, you will have no service at all. Outside of this area, you can roam on several GSM, TDMA, and AMPS networks; but Cingular does not allow Carolinas GSM customers to roam inside the Carolinas. That is why I ended up switching from Cingular to Sprint. As long as you don't go too far into the rural areas or too far from the interstates, you should be fine. I've never been to Smithfield, so I don't know how coverage is there.

BTW, I have found that Sprint has much better coverage than Cingular in NC, even leaving the roaming issue out of the equation. With the roaming added in, I haven't been anywhere in the state where I could not make or receive a call yet.

[dooney]

Would much of that roaming be AMPS or CDMA?

[bobolito]

Originally posted by: dooney Would much of that roaming be AMPS or CDMA?

That depends on which Sprint phone you have. If you use one of the new Tri-Mode phones (CDMA800, CDMA1900, AMPS), you will be able on any carrier Sprint has an agreement with in digital unless that carrier doesn't have CDMA at all, in which case it will be analog. Users of older dual-mode phones (CDMA1900/AMPS) will roam in analog a lot.

[Rebguy2]

I have a Sanyo 4900, it is dual mode, so my roaming is almost always on AMPS. The phone did show "digital roaming" once when I was in Virginia; I suppose it would roam digitally in areas where another company has 1900 CDMA service. I really haven't roamed much since switching, there is one place I go in the mountains of NC where I roam; and this is still an improvement on Cingular, because I had no service at all, roaming or otherwise, with my Cingular phone there. Even the outlying areas around Asheville seem to have very good Sprint coverage.

The one thing I miss most about GSM is the voice quality. The voice quality on GSM was as good as a landline, even with a weak signal. CDMA voice quality is good if you have a strong signal, but as it gets weaker there is a noticable difference. It is especially noticable if you are talking to someone on another CDMA phone. But good voice quality is all for naught if you cannot make or receive a call! All in all, I have no complaints thus far about Sprint.

[hillbilly44]

rebguy2;

Your statement is completely untrue. If you have a GAIT phone you have coverage in the Carolinas and East Tennessee, you don't have a clue what you're talking about. Also you have the ablility to use the 850GSM networks or TDMA networks.

[UNCCJester]

Rebguy is completely right and he can be backed by a BIG FRIGGIN POST that I made MONTHS ago (I'm sure he and Bobolito remember that one VERY well). If you get a number in the Carolina's network, you WILL NOT ROAM in this network! I am only one I know of that has a Nokia 6340 that WILL roam in the Carolinas..I snagged one right when they came out and they accidentally let it roam in the home area, and when they took it away I was all over them [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] The GAIT phones WILL NOT ROAM IN THE HOME AREA of NC, SC, Eastern TN and parts of GA...and recently they added VA!!! I can understand why people in the more rural areas. They let people know that b/c of the cost of roaming, they wouldn't do it for them. If you ever go to VA, once you get about 2 miles over the state line, you can forget GSM. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

twoodward: You'll be fine in Greensboro...You may hit a dead spot or 2 on the way to Greenville and Smithfield, so says this map http://onlinestore.cingular.com/weba.../local_map.htm Like Rebguy said, it's when you go way into the rural areas..that's where you'll run into dead spots.

Hillbilly, why don't you READ THE POST before you blow smoke and tell someone they're wrong b/c it makes you look like an IDIOT. Here's an old thread of mine to show what coverage you WOULD get IF your phone roamed in the home area, here in NC. http://www.wirelessadvisor.com/wafor...threadid=14650

Rebguy said you wouldn't ROAM in his listed areas..YOU ARE STUCK with GMS 1900 with the 6340(i). Are there even any areas in this service area with 850GSM? On another point, there's one old-school Cingular phone that had AMPS, and if I recall correctly, THAT phone would go analog where it couldn't get digital, but I don't remember which phone it was anymore...

[Rebguy2]

Hillbilly, a GAIT phone will roam on TDMA and AMPS in the Carolinas and East TN if the phone was activated outside the Carolinas area, in other words, anywhere where Cingular is or recently was TDMA. Cingular's 1900 GSM network is the only GSM in the Carolinas, and it has been GSM since the beginning. Cingular blocks any GAIT phone activated in the Carolinas (this is the key phrase) from roaming at all in NC, SC, East GA, East TN, or with any carrier other than T-Mobile in VA. If you have a GAIT phone activated anywhere else in the US, it will roam. Believe me, I went around and around with customer service about this before I switched carriers. I remember the thread UNCCJester is referring to very well; we both had several posts on it! The phone UNCCJester is talking about that would roam on analog is the Ericsson CF-888, which is the phone I had with Cingular; it was a 1900 GSM/AMPS handset.

BTW, none of the GSM carriers hold an A or B side license in NC, those are held by CDMA carriers (mainly Verizon, US Cellular, or Alltel depending on where you are), so there will be no 850 GSM here.

[jas16]

Maybe Cingular has finally got it right. I went on their website the other day and now there is two nation plans, a nation plan(which cost a little more than the GSM nation plan) and a GSM nation plan. The nation plan shows more coverage(even in the Carolinas) where the GSM nation plan does not. By the map the plan actually covers almost all of North and South Carolina. Anyone got any info on this?

[mikell68]

I am sure all that new roaming in the Carolinas is for Cingular customers from outside the Carolinas. I own a 6340i and I hate the fact I can't roam here in NC. Don't get me wrong, I get a good signal just about everywhere I go, it's just that I feel like I'm getting less of a phone if they block some of it's capabilities. On another note, I did roam the other day when I went up I77 north into VA. At the Fancy Gap, VA exit I started roaming. Any ideas as to what company(GSM signal) this is? Could it be T-Mobile or SunCom? I know it was GSM because it said 'Call 1' during a call I made. 611 was no help.

[bobolito]

You guys in NC are not alone. NYC customers cannot roam here either. You get a GAIT phone with promises that it will pickup "more towers" than GSM phones but the truth is it only works on GSM 1900 mode so all the other modes are useless in your home area. Although I understand Cingular does this to reduce roaming costs, I also understand many people don't go with Cingular because of this.